Cloud technologies are becoming become increasingly popular. They provide storage and processing of user data on remote network servers, which are accessed via the Internet. In this context, the question of the security of the user data stored in the cloud becomes an issue. Generally, user data, stored on a remote network server, is provided to a user in unprotected form after the user is authenticated with the server. In this case, an unauthorized access to the data becomes possible through various security vulnerabilities and malicious technologies.
Known data protection systems encrypt user data stored on remote network servers. However, these systems have number of shortcomings. For example, when user data stored on remote servers is encrypted, it is generally secure from attacks from outside; however, access to the data can be obtained at the server end (for example, by hackers gaining access to the server), since the data (such as user passwords) used to encrypt the user data is also stored on the same servers. In addition, the longer the data is stored on the server in unaltered form the greater the chance of hackers succeeding in decrypting it. Moreover, the mechanisms for protection of user data at the server end are almost always hidden from the user and cannot be checked by the users, which undermines the user's trust in the security of the cloud server.
Therefore, there is a need to improve mechanisms of protecting user data stored on remote network servers.